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` @eine JOHN HEATH, or NILss,M1oHIGAN.

Y Letters Patent No. 70,563, dated November 5, 1867.

IMPROVED TOL FOR CUTTING BOLTS.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CQNCERN:

Be it known that I, J. E. HEATH, of Niles, in the county of Berrien, and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful improvement in Bolt-Cutters; and I do hereby declareI the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of.l the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in whieh- Figure 1 shows 'a plan of my bolt-cutter, with a portion of the front plate removed, to show the different parts thereof.

Figure 2 shows a plan of the cutters; and

Figure 3, a section of the'same.

My invention consists in a new and useful improvement in bolt-cutters, and consists in the :combination of levers and vcams operating directly upon the cutters. These cuttdrs approach each other with their edges moving in the same plane, and always parallel to each other. i In cutters worked by two arms or levers, like the common pliers, they approach each other in the arc of a circle, whose centre is the pivot of the two levers; and in those which operate like shears the cutters lic in different planes, and, as they approach each other, those portions of the edge nearest the pivot meet iirst, arid-do not become parallel until after the bolt is separated. In such cutters it is not easy to cut o a bolt squarely; but in my invention these difficulties are obviated, and the Work is much better done with a very small outlay of power. A

In order that'others may understand the construction and operation of describe it more particularly. i l

Fig. 1 shows the arrangements of the several parts of my'invention, a portion of one of the plates being removed for that purpose. For convenience, I will designate that plate havingthe guide-way B as the upper, and the other as the lower plate, that being thc position of thc two, with the handles toward the operator, when in use. These plates arc made of iron or other suitable metal, and the lower one is about the form shown in g.. 1, It has its further edge turned up at right angles, and at such a distance yas is equal to the thickness of the cutters, in order to form one side or wall of the chamber in which the cutters move'. There is an opening made in this turned-'up edge of the plate, large enough to admit the passage of the bolt to' be cut, so 4that it my invention, I will proceed to ,may be brought between the' edges of the cutters. This opening is further enlarged in `the lower plate, so as to permit-the cutters to -be separated the thickness of the bolt. Upon the upperA surface of this lower plate, and at' a distance from the edgel equal to rather more than the width of the cutters, is a piece of iron or steel, secured by brazing or other suitable means, the further edge of which is straight, and forms the opposite side or wall of the chamber in which the cutters move. This piece is of such thickness that when the upper plate is secured to the lower, the cutters will move freely between them. i

The cutters are made of steel, and are substantially of the form represented at figs. 2 and 3, which shows a section of one. From the lower surface of each cutter, and beginning with a line at proper distance from the edge, a portion ,isv out away, leaving a lug or projection, j', of the thickness of the lower plate, which sets down in the opening, so that the edge of the cutters is in the same plane as the lower surface of the lower plate, and thereby is enabled to cut off bolts closer than it otherwise would. These cutters. are kept in place Vby the edge of the lower plate, and the piece G, secured to it, between which they are moved freely by means ot' the levers D D, which have their pivots or fulcra at e c. On that part of the levers which presses upon the vcutters cams or eccentrics are forged, and as the levers -are brought together these cams force the cutters against the bolt to be cut. As the -handles of the levers are extended, the cutters are `separated from eachother by the springs a a, secured at g g, the ends of which work in notches cut on the inner edges of the cutters at b In order that the cutters may cut squarely across the bolt, a small back-bevel is given to each.

The upper pla'te is, in its general outline, similar to the lower, and is secured to it by screwsipassing through both.;A It has at its further end an opening,lto admit the bolt, corresponding with that in the edge of the lower plate, and of a depth equal tothe width ofthe cutters, and atits inner or nearedge it is prolonged a-suitable length to B, having a slot in it to receive and guide the pin e, which is attached to the levers D D.by the braces E E, pivoted to them by the pins d d. The upper plate has also a small portion cut out on the sides, to receive the pins d d, and so allo'w the levers to be brought nearer together. The object of this slot or guide-way for the pin e, and the braces attached to the levers, is to compel the two levers to move together, and toI keepthe two plates, with the cutters, in the same relative position tothe levers D D, no matter in whilt position they may be placed'.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to seenre by Letters Patent ofthe United States, is i 1. The combination of the plate A, cutters C C, levers D D, and springs a a, arranged as described.

2. The slotted guide-plate B, projecting between the cam-levers D D from `the plate A, as shown, in combination with the jointed arms E E, cani-levers D D, and cutters C C, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

J. E. HEATH.

Witnesses:

Jos. T. GOODWIN, E. B. LE ROY. 

